What does Tamagotchi mean? This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word Tamagotchi Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Tamagotchi(Noun) A toy, a small electronic virtual pet. Origin: A portmanteau of the Japanese word tamago and the English word watch (ウオッチ uocchi). Early on, in Japan, Tamagotchi was written in English as Tamagotch. When the Tamagotchi went overseas, an "i" was added at the end or the name. Recently, Japan has changed Tamagotch for Tamagotchi. Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Tamagotchi The Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet, created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was first sold by Bandai in 1996 in Japan. As of 2010, over 76 million Tamagotchis have been sold world-wide.

Most Tamagotchis are housed in a small egg-shaped computer with an interface usually consisting of three buttons, although the number of buttons may vary for different variations. According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the Japanese word "たまご", which means "egg", and the English word "watch". Consequently, the name is romanized as "Tamagotch" without the "i" in Japan. But recently in Japan, the romanized name has changed to the English "Tamagotchi" with the i. Most Tamagotchi characters' names end in 'tchi' or 'っち' in Japanese, with the exception of a few newer characters, such as Makiko. Numerology The numerical value of Tamagotchi in Chaldean Numerology is: 6 Pythagorean Numerology How to Pronounce Tamagotchi - YouTube How to Pronounce Tamagotchi Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Oct 5, 2014 Learn how to say Tamagotchi with Japanese accent. Tamagotchi (tamagocchi): In Japanese, it can be written as たまごっち . "The Tamagotchi (たまごっち) is a handheld digital pet, created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was first sold by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan. As of 2010, over 76 million Tamagotchis have been sold world-wide. Most Tamagotchis are housed in a small egg-shaped computer with an interface usually consisting of three buttons, although the number of buttons may vary. According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the Japanese word "たまご" (tamago), which means "egg", and the English word "watch" (ウオッチ - uotchi). Consequently, the name is sometimes romanized as "Tamagotch" without the "i" in Japan.

Most Tamagotchi characters' names end in 'tchi' or 'っち' in Japanese, with few exceptions." - from Wikipedia For more pronunciation of Japanese words, please check: Top 10 Strange Inventions That Made Millions Bringing you the Latest News, Entertainment and More Top 10 Strange Inventions That Made Millions There are many inventions that benefit humankind while others leave you thinking WTF but even some of the strangest of ideas actually end up making millions. So check out these top 10 strangest inventions that made millions and perhaps they might inspire you to create your own flash of genius. 10. Doggles Some inventions strike us as weird, others stupid and still others as simply unnecessary. Occasionally, however, something seemingly silly turns out to address a real need. Take Doggles, the goggle-style sunglasses that aren’t just for the pulchritudinous pooch on the go. These rover Ray-Bans do more than protect your pet from the sun’s glare: They also keep out dust, debris and wind, block UV rays and assist in relieving ocular medical conditions, such as a rare autoimmune disorder that prevents dogs’ eyes from producing tears. So, who’s the Fido behind those Foster Grants?

Besides doing their duty (ahem) for hounds at home, Doggles shielded U.S. dogs in uniform from windblown sand in Iraq. We can’t say for sure if the helicopter-hopping hound that accompanied SEAL Team Six on its mission to take out Osama bin Laden wore them, but it seems likely. Efforts are also under way to supply the shielding specs to search-and-rescue dogs. Doggles, LLC has sold millions of pairs to pooches at $19.90 a pop. 9. The Snuggie Imagine you’re sitting on your couch on a cold December day reading a book. It’s chilly, so you decide to use a blanket. But wait! The blanket limits the use of your hands! What are you to do? Well, if you’re willing to risk a little embarrassment, you can solve this problem by joining the millions of owners of sleeved blankets like the Snuggie, or its less-popular competitor, the Slanket. Of course, you could simply wear a robe or a sweater when you get cold, but where’s the fun in that?

There’s no denying the Snuggie’s appeal: More than 20 million Americans purchased a Snuggie between fall 2008 and Christmas 2009, at between $10 and $20 per blanket. Sales continue to be strong, and Snuggies for kids and pets (yes, pets) have heated up as gift items. They’re a common sight on airplanes and at sporting events, and have even inspired “Snuggie pub crawls” in which human blankets trot from bar to bar, their inebriation barely out pacing their mortification. 8. Magic 8 Ball “Without a doubt,” Albert Carter and Abe Bookman would have needed psychic powers to have predicted the eventual success of their Syco-Seer fortune-telling device. Even then, they would have been “very doubtful” that it would one day take the form of an 8 ball. “It is certain,” however, that the spherical soothsayer owes its trademark black-and-white flair — and, perhaps, its success — to Chicago’s Brunswick Billiards and its promotional interest.

Inspired by Carter’s mother, a self-proclaimed Cincinnati clairvoyant, the ball began as a tube containing a thick liquid and a die with predictions printed on it. It was then briefly marketed as a crystal sphere, which caught Brunswick’s eye, after which it assumed its sartorial fondness for basic black. Following a few technical advancements, the Magic 8-Ball became what it remains today: A sphere surrounding an alcohol- and dye-filled tube, which contains a 20-sided die stamped with various answers. Was its popularity aided by the fortune-telling craze of the 1950s, which also fueled the fame of fortune cookies and diner fortune-telling machines? You may rely on it. 7. The Koosh Ball Chains of paperclips, balls of rubber bands and piles of Post-it notes scattered throughout schools and workplaces everywhere silently attest that fidgety boredom, not necessity, is the mother of invention. Sometimes, though, the mother of invention is a father. Looking for a ball that his kids could more easily catch, inventor Scott Stillinger tied a few rubber bands together into a sphere of strands surrounding a soft rubber core.

Little did he suspect that he had a million-dollar idea on his rubber-reeking hands. His elastic echidna, Koosh, dominated the 1988 Christmas marketplace. The multicolored dandelion went on to sell millions. After Stillinger was bought out, the company that purchased Koosh was sold to toy giant Hasbro in 1997 for more than $100 million. Koosh remains on the market today, both in its original form and in branded crossovers. 6. Plastic Wishbone Documentaries make a big deal about how great inventors perceive opportunities that others do not, but sometimes there’s a good reason those opportunities elude our vision: They’re ridiculous. Who would have guessed that the world was waiting for a revolutionary advance in plastic wishbone technology? Ken Ahroni, founder and inventor of Lucky Break Wishbone Corp., that’s who. The idea to manufacture and sell fake wishbones came to the merry thought maven during an argument over who would get the wishbone from his holiday turkey. Now, everyone, even vegans, can have a wishbone all their own — because that was necessary, apparently.

To his credit, Ahroni had to fracture a lot of furculas to come up with a plastic that would break like bone. After all, most plastics are designed not to break, and the ones that do break tend to shatter into slivers instead of delivering a satisfying snap. The company sells millions of these bones of contention at a rate of four for $3.99 or, even, 400 for $195.99. 5. The Singing Fish At some point, just about everyone has seen an animatronic fish like Big Mouth Billy Bass, Boogie Bass or Rocky Rainbow Trout. Whether from we heard it sing from a wall, a grocery store shelf or a white elephant gift box, we have all seen one. The device was originally created by a Texas novelty toy company in the late 1990s, and it was soon reeling in the dough. Perhaps as a monument to buyers’ questionable taste and willingness to annoy family members, by the start of the 2000s, the “singing fish” had become a hugely popular gag gift and stocking stuffer. Stores sold hundreds of singing stripers each hour and struggled to keep them in stock.

Sales of the fish topped 1 million in the year 2000 alone. The fish spawned a slew of imitators, including other fish, lobsters and even Christmas trees. But, as the word suggests, novelty items depend strongly on newness. Their popularity eventually tapered off, and while you can still find the fish in many stores, it’s not nearly as in demand as it once was. 4. Billy-Bob Teeth It must be a little disheartening for parents to see their progeny pop in a pair of Billy-Bob Teeth. There’s nothing like spending thousands of dollars to correct a crossbite or undo an underbite, only to see it undone for $9.99. Call it innocent fun, classism or revenge for months of stabbing wires, tight rubber bands and ludicrous headgear; whatever the motive, parents probably die a little inside. It’s hard to believe that the profits from a set of novelty teeth could pay a dental bill, let alone settle a pair of student loans; but these counterfeit choppers not only dug their developers out of debt, they made them millionaires.

Born of a partnership between a dental student and a struggling ex-college football player, these demented dentures — and related novelties such as Zombie Feet Sandals and hats with hair — have sold more than 15 million units since 1994, and as of 1998 had grossed $1.8 million. Chew on that. 3. Furby Quick! What has fur, corgi ears and a bird beak, and can supposedly learn English? If you didn’t guess the Furby, well, no one would hold it against you. The hottest toy on the market in the late 1990s is today little more than a faded memory, the subject of Internet snark and Urban Dictionary entries. Released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics, Furby stood 6 inches (15.2 centimeters) tall, was covered in colorful fur, and could play games and wiggle its body. Tiger marketed the computerized critter as one of the first widely available “artificial intelligence” toys.

One of Furby’s tricks was to “learn” English (thereby easing relations with those few owners not fluent in Furbish); actually, it was simply programmed to speak less of its gibberish language over time, replacing it with English. When one Furby was brought together with another, the two would engage in gibberish conversations, much the way some humans do. The hideous, hirsute critters debuted with a $40 price tag, but in the proud tradition of holiday fad toys, soon saw demand drive their prices into the hundreds. In just three years, more than 40 million freakish furballs flew off the shelves, in a menagerie of shapes, sizes and themes, including a Christmas Furby, Halloween Furby and even a 2000 Presidential Election Furby. Perhaps inevitably, the Furby’s popularity faded. They remain available on the Internet, but are scarce in stores. 2. Tamagotchi Like the Furby, this ’90s relic simulated owning a pet — a pet more prone to dying than a carnival goldfish during Rush Week.

If you’ve ever dreamed of cleaning up the virtual excrement of a chirping, battery-powered, egg-shaped key chain, then rejoice: You’re clearly not alone, because these electronic “virtual pets” sold like hotcakes. Japanese toymaker Bandai first unveiled “Tamagotchi” — a portmanteau of the Japanese word for “egg” and the English word “watch” — in 1996. It worked like this: You turned the Tamagotchi on, gave it a name and then used the buttons on the device to feed it, play games with it, put it to bed or, yes, clean up its waste. Over time, the creature on the black-and-white LCD screen would grow and change into different versions — if you took good enough care of it, that is. The earliest Tamagotchi required near-constant attention or they would “die,” mandating a reset of the device so the process could start over. This made them unpopular with parents and teachers, who noticed their kids sometimes cared for the toys at the expense of chores and homework. At one time, Bandai estimated it was selling a Tamagotchi per second.

More than 70 million have been sold since then, spawning a slew of imitators. The virtual varmints are still available, and elementary school kids can still be seen toting them on their backpacks, though not in the numbers they once did. Now, for the final item on our list of the ludicrous and lucrative: It’s not electronic, but it’s probably the original virtual pet — and it made its inventor a millionaire almost overnight. 1. Pet Rock What is arguably the weirdest invention of all time to make millions of dollars wasn’t really an invention at all: The Pet Rock. In case you don’t recall this rocky fiasco, Gary Dahl, an advertising executive from California, figured out a way to decorate and market rocks as pets. It might not sound like much, but it spawned a fad that swept the U.S. like a runaway rockslide. Dahl purchased ordinary gray pebbles from a construction supplier and sold them as pets. Some models sported painted faces, while others bore glued-on googly eyes on their stony countenances. In a testament to marketing, and to P.T.

Barnum, Dahl billed the pet rock as the perfect pet, one that never needed to be fed or cleaned up after. As outlined in a humorous manual included with the “pet,” owners could talk to it, name it or teach it to do simple tricks. Many owners painted them or found other ways to personalize their rocks. The Pet Rock debuted in 1975 at $3.95 — about $16 in the current economy. In just six months, Dahl sold more than 5 million pet rocks, raking in a profit equivalent to $56 million in 2011 dollars, in large part because of his lack of overhead: Buying the rocks and delivering them probably cost only 95 cents apiece. Pet Rocks have staged a comeback on the Internet in recent years. You can still buy them online, though many are fancier than Dahl’s originals. ***** So thats our top 10 wackiest inventions that made a fortune, were you one of the millions that bought these inventions? If so tell us what you bought in the comments section below. Tamagotchi Commercial - YouTube Tamagotchi Commercial Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist.

Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on May 18, 2013 The Tamagotchi (Tamagocchi?) is a handheld digital pet, created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was first sold by Bandai in 1996 in Japan. As of 2010, over 76 million Tamagotchis have been sold world-wide. Most Tamagotchis are housed in a small egg-shaped computer with an interface usually consisting of three buttons, although the number of buttons may vary for different variations. According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the Japanese word "たまご" (tamago), which means "egg", and the English word "watch" (uocchi). Consequently, the name is romanized as "Tamagotch" without the "i" in Japan.

But recently in Japan, the romanized name has changed to the English "Tamagotchi" with the i. Most Tamagotchi characters' names end in 'tchi' or in Japanese, with the exception of a few newer characters, such as Makiko. Category Tamagotchi - Loveable Egg Page Tamagotchi Commemorative Edition Tamagotchi is BACK !! Bandai continues to release new versions of Tamagotchi Connection following the very successful U.S. launch of Version 1 on August 15, 2004. Follow all the news surrounding Tamagotchi Connection on our Tamagotchi Connection Information Center Page . Read on below for coverage the Original Tamagotchi back in 1997. Tamagotchi - This egg shaped loveable electronic bird creature that resembles a chicken virtual pet built by a Japanese toymaker, Bandai Company, took Japan by storm in late 1996. It was originally called Tamagocchi (Japanese word for loveable egg) in Japan, Bandai labeled it Tamagotchi in its early U.S. press releases.

If you came into our website from one of the search engines to this page, be sure to back up and read the vast information about the virtual pet industry available from our Vitual Pet Home Page . Several Tamagotchi news reports are reproduced below. Reuters. 22 January 1997. "Virtual Pet" Craze Sweeps Japan Washington Post Jan. 27, 1997. Virtual pet-raising games - Cheep thrills: Virtual chickens need care and attention or they'll croak . Note, a very similar Tamagotchi article ran in the Washington Post on Jan 15 1997 credited to the Washington Post Foreign Service and the same writer. Pathfinder - Netlynewsnetwork March 21 1997. Bandai's Golden Egg "PA" News Centre. Gadgets & Gizmo's Section. 11 April 1997 Tamagocchi article Mad Dog syndicated column. At last the perfect pet this undated article was added to the list 18 April 1997 K-B Toys Announces U.S.

Sales of Tamagotchi to Begin May 1 "The Toy That Ate Tokyo Is Heading West" Business Week 5 May 1997 page 6 Toy Life Form Invades the U.S. New York Times 3 May 1997. New York Times Tamagotchi Diary writer Joe Hutsko multi-part article about his daily interaction with his tamagotchi. Began 3 May 1997. 7th Level/Bandai CD ROM-2: Features Expanded Animation AP-Dow Jones News Service 19 June 1997. Tamagotchi is coming to CD-Rom. Pet Shop Toys Entertainment Weekly 20 June 1997 article features our web site. It also describes the sales battle between Giga Pets and Tamagotchi. Tamagotchi Versions Page 14 August 1997 we added a page showing several of the many versions of the Tamagotchi. AP-Dow Jones News Service 19 June 1997 7th Level/Bandai CD ROM-2: Features Expanded Animation DALLAS -- 7th Level Inc.

and Bandai Co.'s Bandai Digital Entertainment unit will create a CD-ROM for the hand-held Tamagotchi toy. In a press release Wednesday, 7th Level said the CD-ROM will feature animation, story line and game options expanded from the Tamagotchi toy, in which a player raises a pet animal. 7th Level creates interactive multimedia products. Bandai Digital Entertainment produces interactive entertainment and educational multimedia products. 7th Level Inc. (SEVL) said the CD-ROM of the Tamagotchi virtual pet toy, which it is developing with Bandai Co.'s Bandai Digital Entertainment unit, will be on store shelves in the U.S. no later than mid-November. A company spokeswoman said the product will sell for $24.95. A CD-ROM version of the toy is now available in Japan but the spokeswoman said Bandai believes it is 'not a good quality product and wants a more advanced, high quality computer game for the U.S. market.' DALLAS (AP-Dow Jones)--7th Level Inc. and Bandai Co.'s Bandai Digital Entertainment unit will create a CD-ROM for the hand-held Tamagotchi toy in the U.S.

In a press release Wednesday, 7th Level said the CD-ROM will feature animation, story line and game options expanded from the Tamagotchi toy, in which a player raises a pet animal. As reported Monday, Bandai is selling a Tamagotchi CD-ROM in Japan. A 7th Level spokesman said Bandai believes it is 'not a good, quality product and wants a more advanced, high-quality computer game for the U.S. market.' 7th Level said the virtual pet toy will be on store shelves in the U.S. no later than mid-November. The 7th Level spokeswoman said the product will sell for $24.95. Copyright © 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Wall Street Journal 3 June 1997 by Wayne Arnold Tamagotchis Take Up Residence In New Bandai Mobile Phones SORRY GODZILLA, a new monster has hung its shingle in Japan -- a seemingly helpless but certainly sinister critter called Tamagotchi.

Tamagotchi, readers may already be aware, is an egg-shaped, hand-held electronic game named for the creature that hatches on its tiny screen, then peeps for the digital food, affection and play that it needs to grow and thrive. Neglect a Tamagotchi and it will wither and die, though this apparently isn't the object of the game. Bandai, the company that sells Tamagotchi, has spawned about seven million of these hectoring toys since last November, and some have even shown up elsewhere around Asia. It's still not enough. Shortages have driven the price of a Tamagotchi in Tokyo to as high as 15,000 yen ($129). Now, the Tamagotchis are launching an aerial assault. Sometime this month, Bandai will begin selling mobile phones that have a Tamagotchi inside -- the Tamapichi. The phones will operate on Japan's personal handyphone system, the low-priced wireless service that has become the rage among the country's teenage girls.

Users no longer will have to watch their Tamagotchi die, they'll be able to blast their tiny beast to another Tamapichi owner's phone, where the ailing creature can frolic with its own kind, feed and regain its pluck. The phones will sell for 45,000 yen. Will these monsters stop at nothing? Copyright © 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Newsbytes News Network 03/03/97 Japan - Police Detain 4 Over Tamagocchi Electronic Pet Theft TOKYO, JAPAN, 1997 MAR 3 (NB) -- By Martyn Williams. The craze over Bandai's Tamagocchi electronic pet has elevated the game into the same category as Nike "AirMax" sports shoes among Japanese youth. Police reported the detaining, on Friday, of four high school boys for the theft of a Tamagocchi from a fellow student. The incident occurred in Yokohama, south west of Tokyo, and involved the bullying of one student and theft of his Tamagocchi. The game, a small key-chain type, involves the raising of an electronic chicken from chick to old age.

The chick reaches old age if given a good life and fed regularly. Owners must also play with and clean up after the chick if they want to prevent it dying. Impossible to buy in shops, street prices of Tamagocchi have rocketed to 20 or 30 times the retail price of just under 2,000 yen ($16.60). The toy's makers, Bandai, promise new stocks in Japan in April. This shortage, and their now high price, have made them a very desirable status symbol among Japanese youth and, apparently, have led some to theft. This type of incident has been seen before in Japan. Nike AirMax shoes are incredibly popular and several incidents of shoes being taken off owners have been reported in the past. Bandai announced plans recently to launch Tamagocchi in the United States in the summer and onto CD-ROM and Nintendo Game-Boy versions in Japan in the spring. According to reports, police used several patrol cars and a helicopter in their pursuit of the four. All, including the victim, were 14 years old. Exchange rate: $1 = 120.50 yen Copyright © 1997 Newsbytes News Network.

25 February 1997 Tamagocchi to the States with Nintendo Whether you have been reading about the latest game craze Tamagocchi or not, Nintendo Gameboy owners will have a surprise coming their way soon from both Bandai and Nintendo. Bandai, capitalizing on the continued success of it's Tamagocchi "pet" game in Japan, has announced 2 games already in the works for the Nintendo Gameboy. One game will supposedly be titled "Virtual Pet" when it hits the states expectedly in June. Whether or not Virtual Pet fever will sweep the states is currently a mystery, however, if the reaction is even close to Japan's frenzy, retailers should be in for a nice surprise. The actual decision to bring the game to the gameboy is in itself surprising considering the merger recently between Bandai and Sega. We'll have to keep our eyes pealed for Virtual Pet this summer at an expect $35.00 retail price when it lands stateside. --Dennis Day Hyper@ctive 2.0 News Tamagocchi For Gameboy Still storming its way across the Japanese toy market is Bandai's immensely popular "tamagocchi," the line of virtual pet products.

Though still not introduced in the US (yet), the tamagocchi has appeared in two incarnations as a key chain LCD-based game. Today, Bandai announced that it was developing the game for Nintendo's systems. The Game Boy will be the first Nintendo system to receive a tamagocchi game, and will include both versions of the key chain game, as well as giving players the chance to raise three of the virtual birdies at once. Bandai expects the Game Boy version to be released as early as this summer, with a retail price of 4,286 yen ($US35), and it will be sold only in Japan. For those wondering what the tamagocchi is, it's a key chain shaped like an egg with an LCD screen set in the middle. The pet lives on the screen, and it must be fed and taken care of just like a normal pet. If neglected, the bird will eventually die. The game runs on the notion that humans have a motherly instinct, and if a real pet cannot be obtained, then a virtual pet is the next best thing. The name is a play on the Japanese word for 'egg', as the key chains are egg-shaped.

In Japan, they are in such demand that they are known to sell for up to three times the retail price, which is normally 1,980 yen ($US16). Bandai's Tamagocchi Game Heading Worldwide Bandai's Tamagocchi Game Heading Worldwide 02/03/97 TOKYO, JAPAN, 1997 FEB 3 (NB) -- By Martyn Williams. Tamagocchi, the smash hit electronic pet game of Bandai Corp. will soon be available outside of Japan, according to the Saturday edition of the Mainichi Shimbun. The newspaper said that Bandai, which recently announced it will merge with Sega Enterprises, will sell the game in Asia, the United States, and Europe. Bandai has sold more than a half million of the games, priced at 1,980 yen ($16.30), and they are so popular that the games cannot be found in any stores. Before Tamagocchi goes on sale overseas, the game will be changed to feature English language onscreen messages. Owners of Tamagocchi must feed, pet, and clean up after a small chick to enable it to grow contentedly.

Demand, especially among high-school girls, is estimated at over six million and Bandai is now getting more than a million hits per week on its Internet home page, said the newspaper. Exchange rate: $1 = 121.45 yen NIKKEI WEEKLY 1 February 1997 Virtual pet-raising games Virtual pet-raising games become new rage in toy market. Games that let users raise a digital pet on-screen are seeing soaring sales in the toy market which was, until recently, dominated by video games. Toy makers are now vying to develop new varieties of such games, following the lead of Bandai Co., whose Tamagocchi game has become a smash hit with teenage girls. Tamagocchi, priced at 1,980 yen, is an egg-shaped device with a small screen and a few buttons. A user can raise a chicken on the screen by pressing the buttons to give it virtual nourishment. Bandai will market a new version of the game in early February. The looks and character of the chicken change depending on the way the user raises it. Casio Computer Co. and other firms, meanwhile, are selling digital pet-raising software that run on personal digital assistants and game machines.

"We have bought large volumes of such games but are already out of stock," said a spokesperson for Kiddyland, a major Tokyo toy retailer. Copyright 1997 Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc., all rights reserved. Cheep thrills: Virtual chickens need care and attention, or they'll croak TOKYO - By dawn Friday, a line of almost 2,000 people stretched a quarter of a mile through the Ginza shopping district. Hundreds of them had spent the night camped out on the sidewalk in the numbing midwinter cold. When you want a toy chicken badly enough, you will endure anything. "It is my responsibility to nurture it and help it grow; if I do not, its face will turn vicious and it will become a gangster chicken, then it will die," homemaker Kwon Myong Mi, 33, said earnestly, explaining why she waited hours in line to pay $18 for a Tamagocchi, Japan's hottest new fad. The Tamagocchi, which translates as "cute little egg," is a key-chain computer game about the size and shape of an egg.

The game starts when an egg on the display screen hatches and a chicken is born. The owner then uses three tiny buttons to feed, play with, clean up after and discipline it. Unlike most video games that are over in a few minutes, this one can go on for days. With proper care, the chicken grows. If the owner forgets to feed it, it sounds a loud "peep peep peep" of complaint. If the chicken makes a mess and the owner doesn't clean it up, the pet peeps even louder. The owner can tickle it with the press of a button, or take its temperature and give it injections of "medicine" if it seems ill. Ignore the chicken, drop it on the subway, forget it at home or neglect to tickle it often enough, and it will grow sickly and mean-looking. Eventually it will die. Game over. The implication: You loser. You can't even keep a fake chicken alive. More than 500,000 Tamagocchis have been sold since they were introduced two months ago by Bandai, the huge Japanese toymaker famous for its Power Rangers.

Tamagocchis have sold for upward of $500 for those lucky enough to find one. It would be easy to dismiss the Tamagocchi as a peculiar Japanese quirk. But American entrepreneurs and toy companies are watching closely. Remember: Other fads that started in Japan include the transistor radio, Power Rangers, Nintendo and the Sony Walkman. A Bandai spokesman Friday said the company was starting to look at "international markets" - spell that U-S-A. The Tamagocchi buzz is so fierce these days that when word leaked out Thursday that the Hakuhinkan Toy Park had received a shipment of 1,700 and was going to sell them Friday, there was pandemonium. "If one person has it, everyone has to have it. That's the way it is in Japan," said Nami Tanaka, 22, a dental nurse who traveled 90 minutes from her home, then camped out on the sidewalk from 10 p.m. Thursday until she finally got her little blue-and-pink Tamagocchi at 9:30 Friday morning.

Tanaka's friend, Ayami Kanayama, 21, a college student, said she'd called every toy store in Tokyo for more than a week, waiting for word on Tamagocchis. When Hakuhinkan finally said it would have some this morning, she and Tanaka spent the night on the sidewalk. Several hundred people who didn't come early enough were turned away without a Tamagocchi. In this metropolitan area of 30 million, there is barely enough room for the humans, let alone animals. Many people rent pets as weekend companions; others buy a dog or cat but leave it at the pet shop, stopping by now and then to take it for a walk. So computerized pets have been around for a while - "virtual" dogs or cats that are fed and cared for with the click of a computer mouse. "Many in the younger generation want to have nice soft pets, but they don't want to clean up after them and do the other hard parts," said Rieko Zanma, an essayist who writes about modern Japanese society.

"The Tamagocchi is not a living creature, so it gives them satisfaction on a very `virtual' level, which has been instilled in young people today." "It's fun, it's interesting and it's simple; depending on how I nurture it, it will grow up to be a nice chicken or a bad chicken," said Nobuyuki Tanabe, 16, a high-school student who skipped school to wait in line for one. The Tamagocchi is so new that no one seems to know how long any single chicken will live. Kwon, the homemaker, said she had a friend who raised one for many days. "That was a good chicken," she said. Kwon said she planned to do her best to raise an honorable chicken, too. But she knows there are no guarantees in life, real or electronic: "Some chickens are born to be good," she said. "And some are born to be bad." How Tamagotchi Rose From The Dead To Join The Internet Of Things How Tamagotchi Rose From The Dead To Join The Internet Of Things {{article.article.images.featured.caption}} Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Full Bio The author is a Forbes contributor.

The opinions expressed are those of the writer. Loading ... This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe Credit: Bandai Here’s a product primed to make ‘90s kids scratch their heads and ask, “What year is it?” Tamagotchis are back . The Tamagotchi, a portmanteau of tamago—“egg” in Japanese—and the English word “watch,” is a virtual pet the size of a keychain. It had its heyday in the mid-’90s when kids attached them to their Jansports and “fed” the pets daily by pressing a button on a screen. Tomagotchis who weren't properly cared for just "died." The Tamagotchi was first released in Japan in 1996 and become a fad in America soon after. Within seven months of Japanese toy company Bandai exporting the toy to the United States, the company earned $150 million in retail sales . Now the hit toy is back just in time to cash in on Millennial nostalgia—with a few upgrades to boot.

The “Tamagotchi Friends Digital Friend” takes advantage of the increasing capacity of modern data chips to include “five fun games” you can now play with your pet. Most notably, today’s modern Tamagotchi takes a cue from the Internet of Things and now supports interlinking your digital pet with a friend’s. By bumping the two toys together, this latest generation of Tamagotchis will prompt an exchange of data. This interlink lends itself to a host of new activities for Tamagotchi play, including playdates, “friendship meters,” and even sending text messages from one toy to another. Maybe if your ‘90s Tamagotchi had done all that, it wouldn’t have met its untimely digital death only a few weeks after you convinced your parents to buy it for you.

Question: The name of what toy is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for 'egg' and the English word 'watch'?
Answer: Tamagotchi